The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measurement of inflation, rose by 3.6 per cent during the first quarter of this year compared with the same period of 2011, according to the Department of Statistics (DoS) figures.

Whereas prices of meat and poultry products went up by 8 per cent, rents by 4.2 per cent, milk and dairy products by 15.5 per cent, clothes and footwear by 5.8 per cent, prices of vegetables dropped by 13.5 per cent, fruits by 4.6 per cent and cereals by 2.1 per cent.

The CPI went up by 3.7 per cent in March of this year compared with the same month of 2011 due to higher prices for transport services, vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy products. DoS relies on 2006 as the base year in calculating these figures.